Evansville utility officials monitoring chemical that was spilled upriver in West Virginia

Workers inspect an area outside a retaining wall around storage tanks where a chemical leaked into the Elk River at Freedom Industries storage facility in Charleston, Va., Monday, Jan. 13, 2014. A chemical spill from the facility has left thousands of residents of the Charleston W.Va. area without safe water for five days. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

EVANSVILLE - Evansville Water & Sewer Utility officials are monitoring issues stemming from a chemical spill about 700 miles away in Charleston, W.Va., and its potential impact on local water.

Utility Director Allen Mounts and Mayor Lloyd Winnecke said in a joint statement they are receiving updates from the Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission, the Coast Guard, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Indiana Department of Environmental Management.

The Louisville Courier-Journal reported the chemical, stored by Freedom Industries and used for washing coal, spilled catastrophically Thursday in Charleston, W.V., along the Elk River, resulting in a state of emergency and a ban on any water use except for toilet flushing for at least 300,000 West Virginians.

The substance in question is called MCHM, or 4-methylcyclohexane methanol, and authorities know little about its toxicity, according to the Courier-Journal. The Elk River flows into the Kanawha River, which is a tributary of the Ohio.

In Cincinnati, Mayor John Cranley ordered Ohio River valves into the city's water system be shut down for at least 20 hours starting Tuesday night until the plume passes.

Coast Guard officials estimate the plume is likely to reach Evansville by the weekend. According to the city's statement, the plume's concentration level is undetermined and will depend on factors such as rain and the Ohio's flow rates.

The city's Utility will examine two key issues as the plume approaches: the chemical's concentration in the Ohio, which can be tested, and whether the chemical floats on the river's surface, mixes completely or sinks.

Evansville's water-intake pumps receive water at a depth of several feet from the river bottom. The dilution effect at the Ohio River will have a large bearing on the level of detection in Evansville, according to the city's statement.

A report Monday showed a concentration of 36 parts per billion at Huntington, W. Va. Evansville's Utility will use carbon treatment if any level of the chemical is detected. Officials say that method of treatment has been used effectively by other water utilities affected by the spill.

The chemical in question also omits a sweet odor even at very low concentrations. The carbon treatment will help minimize an odor that might be present, according to the city.

The Evansville Water & Sewer Utility is a member of Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission, and city equipment is tied with the commission's monitoring system via the Internet. That enables the city to draw from ORSANCO's expertise in reading scans and making determinations regarding the safety of intake water.

Mounts and Winnecke said residents will be updated on any developments related to the spill.